How many parents can afford a date night these days with the high price of babysitting?

One of the best things I've discovered is trading date nights with another parent who have similar numbers/ages of kids. It's a great money saver and the kids love it. However there are some limitations to it:

1. If it's a 1-to-1 trade, then you may feel you have to wait for them to ask YOU to babysit before you can ask THEM to babysit again.

2. You are limited to which families you can trade with. If you've got five kids under 5, you're not going to feel right trading with a family with one 8-year old!

3. Even though you're trading, you may feel hesitant to ask for too much babysitting since you don't want the other party to feel pressured to accept if they want a break.

So, what's the solution? Here's what I think we need:

An online babysitting trading network. When you create an account, you'd automatically receive a certain number of credits which can be used to "buy" babysitting time from others in your network. Babysitting rates would be set at something like one 1 credit per child per half hour. You post your requests and everyone in your network has an opportunity to review it and accept it if they are interested in earning some credits for themselves. The advantages of a system like this are:

1. Expands your possibilities! People in your network are people you know and trust: neighbors, family members, friends from church or school. When you want to go out Friday night, you can ask 10 families at one time without putting pressure on anyone.

2. Easy! Instead of making several phone calls, you can post your request at midnight in your pajamas. And it's low-pressure for the parents on the other end. If they want to earn some credits, they accept. If not, they don't.

3. Fair! If you have more kids or will be gone for a longer time, the sitting will "cost" you more.

4. FREE! In these tight economic times, everybody wins from this trade.

I should mention that, in thinking about this idea, I found a site that is very similar to my idea. However, it is based upon defined groups of families, where trading occurs within that group. Sort of an online babysitting co-op.

Now, that's a GREAT start, but, In my opinion, I find it limiting. I may want to trade with the Jones from my church, and my neighbors The Smiths. In the more rigid "group" structure, I could only trade with the Jones and the Smiths if they were in the same group (but they don't know each other). Or I would have to create and belong to multiple groups, with their own pools of credits, which just makes things more complicated.

Instead I would envision a network where I might have my circle of 10 families, and each of them has their own circle, which may or may not overlap with mine. I can get credits sitting for the Smiths, and spend them to have the Jones' babysit for me. Then the Jones can use the credits they just earned to have another family in THEIR network babysit for them. That gives you so much more flexibility and so many more options, that I think it is enough to merit a separate system.

Skills: Computer Programming